Gear and Inventory

9. Gear and Inventory

Gear is not a shopping list. It is capability under pressure.

In Worlds That Remember: • Gear grants Gear Tags (Section 6) that shape what you can attempt • Some gear also grants Gear Action Cards (Section 7) • Gear can be spent, damaged, lost, or turned against you • Inventory is visible and explicit — no blind reveals, no hidden order

9.1 What Counts as Gear

Gear includes: • tools • weapons • armor/protection • supplies • relics (unique items with world-weight; treated as gear unless expanded)

Gear is tracked in two forms:

1) Gear Tags (persistent) A gear item grants one or more Tags while you possess it.

2) Gear Action Cards (optional) Some gear adds Action Cards to your deck representing trained or risky uses.

9.2 Inventory States (No Hidden Order)

Gear is always in one of these states:

• Equipped / Carried (Gear Tags active) • Stored (Gear Tags inactive) • Spent / Consumed (used up, removed, degraded, or converted)

Visibility rule: • Players always know what gear they possess and what is Stored vs Carried.

9.3 Packs, Slots, and Burden

Inventory is physical constraint, not a number.

Characters do not automatically start with Pack Cards. Pack Cards represent extra capacity — and permanent pressure.

9.3.1 Baseline Carry

Every character begins with: • Pocket (2 slots) — Burden 0

9.3.2 Pack Cards (Optional)

Pack Cards provide Slots you can fill with item shapes.

Common Pack Cards: • Backpack (6 slots) — Burden 2 • Coat (3 slots) — Burden 1 • Belt (2 slots) — Burden 1 • Satchel (4 slots) — Burden 1 • Hard Case (4 slots) — Burden 2 (conspicuous)

Packs are acquired through play.

9.3.3 Burden = Fatigue Floor

Each Pack Card has Burden.

Your total Burden sets your minimum Fatigue: • your Fatigue cannot be reduced below your Burden total by normal recovery (Section 10.4) • Burden decreases only if you remove/lose the Pack Card or an explicit effect reduces Burden

9.3.4 Item Shapes

• Small (1 slot) • Long/Wide (2 slots) • Awkward (3 slots)

If not using shapes, treat those as 1/2/3 and enforce “fit” by slots.

9.3.5 Overstuffing

If carried items do not fit your available slots:

• gain 1 Fatigue immediately (Section 10) • then choose one: – drop items until you fit – stow items if a stash exists (Section 15.4) – convert one carried item into a weaker Gear Tag if it makes sense

Overstuffing never persists without cost.

9.3.6 Damaged Packs

Packs can be damaged by COST/DANGER results, Exposure, Catastrophes, or explicit rules.

A damaged Pack Card may: • lose slots • spill items • gain/distort a Pack Tag that increases Attention or Danger when relevant

9.4 Gear Tags

• A Gear Tag applies only if the item is Carried/Equipped • Gear Tags can be Distorted by harm/exposure/bad rolls • Gear never adds flat numeric modifiers

9.5 Using Gear in a Roll

• You may invoke multiple Gear items if each is relevant and Carried • For each gear item, invoke only one of its Gear Tags per roll • Each invoked Gear Tag contributes dice like any other Tag (Section 6)

9.6 Gear Action Cards

Some items add Gear Action Cards to your deck. They follow Section 7 exactly.

If you lose the gear item that grants a Gear Action Card: • remove (trash) that Gear Action Card from your deck immediately unless a rule explicitly says the training remains

9.7 Consumables and Charges

Consumables are tracked as either: • a Gear Tag with limited charges, or • a Consumable Gear Action Card trashed when used

When depleted: • remove the Tag, or • distort it into an inferior Tag, or • replace it with a Condition if the fiction supports it (Section 11)

9.8 Damage, Loss, and Degradation (No GM Fiat)

When a rule says “your gear is damaged,” resolve mechanically:

1) Identify the target • if named, use that • if not, the acting player chooses the most relevant carried item (ties break via World Arbitration; Section 23)

2) Determine severity Severity uses the worst applicable band present in the roll: • if triggered by COST → use COST band • if triggered by DANGER → use DANGER band • if both apply → use the worse

3) Apply the matching package:

9.8.1 Damage Packages

Minor Damage: • distort one Gear Tag on that item/pack

Major Damage (choose two): • distort one Gear/Pack Tag • remove one beneficial Gear Tag • create a related Condition (Section 11) • if a Pack: lose 1 slot (spill items as required)

Critical Damage: • remove one beneficial Gear Tag OR mark Broken on the item – Broken items cannot be invoked for dice until repaired • then choose one: – create a Condition – distort a second tag – if a Pack: lose 2 slots (spill items as required)

9.9 Crafting and Repair (Tag-Driven, Codified Spend)

Crafting turns scarcity into capability — at a cost.

Items do not require separate “recipes.” Each craft declares Requirements as Tags.

9.9.1 Requirement Types

• Skill Tags (usually player tags) • Tool Tags (usually gear tags; not consumed) • Material Tags (consumed)

You may satisfy Requirements using: • Player Tags (Section 6) • Carried Gear Tags (Section 9.4) • Location Tags (Section 15.5) • Support (Sections 7.6, 8, and 10.3) • Faction assistance (Section 16)

9.9.2 Codified Material Spending

Requirements imply Craft Complexity:

• Simple Craft — 1–2 requirements, none rare Spend: 1 Material (distort or discard)

• Standard Craft — 2–3 requirements Spend: 1 Material (trash) + 1 Material (distort or discard)

• Advanced Craft — 3–4 requirements or any rare requirement Spend: 2 Materials (trash) + 1 Material (distort or discard)

• Relic Craft — world-weight, unique, or faction-guarded Spend: 3+ Materials (at least 2 trashed) and the roll always carries meaningful cost

Materials are never Player Tags.

9.9.3 Craft Procedure

Name what you are making/repairing and list Requirement Tags.
Confirm Requirements are met.
Pay Materials per 9.9.2.
Build a dice pool (Section 4).
Resolve (Sections 2 and 5): • Success: gain crafted gear as Gear Tags and/or Gear Action Cards. • Failure: materials remain spent; take a Condition or suffer gear/pack damage. • COST/DANGER apply normally.

Repair removes Broken or restores removed/distorted tags: • a successful repair may remove Broken OR restore one removed beneficial tag (not both) unless a rule explicitly allows more.

9.10 Recovery and Resupply (Where Gear Comes From)

Gear enters play through: • world outcomes (Cycle procedures; Section 14) • faction rewards and trades (Section 16) • location outcomes and exploration (Section 15) • downtime preparation (Section 13 and 15) • crafting and repair (Section 9.9)

Resupply is never assumed.

9.11 Design Intent

Gear rules ensure: • capability is explicit (Tags + cards) • inventory creates physical choices (packs and slots) • more capacity carries permanent pressure (Burden Fatigue floor) • tools and carriers fail and scar the future • crafting is possible but costly • no play is stalled by hidden information